Fracture toughness and mechanical properties of aluminum matrix composites with fly ash as reinforcement: An industrial waste recycling

Abstract

Metal Matrix Composites are being used in various automobile and aerospace applications. The reason being the composite materials are having the added mechanical properties of sustaining high strength to weight ratio. This is also another reason for using light weight metals like Aluminum. Aluminum is corrosion free and light weight metal[1]. The aluminum fly ash metal matrix composites (MMCs) find wide applications in automobile and aerospace which require high strength and modulus. This present article attempts to highlight the fly ash management to make use of this solid waste, the fly ash, in order to save our environment and produce goods at economic cost. The present report is to carry out a detailed techno market evaluation regarding various high value added products and applications of fly ash with a view to identify the viable technologies those are available to India and determine the market potential of these technologies within existing constraints. The fly ash which is a byproduct of coal burning especially from thermal power plants is being used as reinforcement for MMCs due to its low cost and reduction in environmental pollution. The fly ash particles, generally are hollow in nature[2-5]. The fly ash particles have lower densities while oxides present as constituents make them possess high modulus and strength thereby enhancing specific strength and stiffness along with lower densities compared to many metal based systems. The uses of MMCs are impeded in critical applications due to its low fracture toughness as compare to metals. LEFM (Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics) has been used by researchers to characterize the plane strain fracture toughness using various specimen geometries and notches. However there were very few studies using EPFM (Elastic Plastic Fracture Toughness) are reported in open literature.